1/14/2010 @ 12:00AM

CMOs: Where Are You On Twitter?

When Barry Judge, chief marketing officer of
Best Buy
, started his Twitter feed in mid-2008, he was anxious. He recalls fretting: “What if my tweets are boring, and what if no one follows me?” He had worked at
Best Buy
for more than eight years at that point but he was a social media neophyte. Now Judge finds himself tweeting a couple times a day. He has nearly 14,000 followers. Now he can’t imagine doing his job without using social media, which he uses to communicate with
Best Buy
colleagues and customers.

Many CMOs are talking about Twitter–some even encourage employees to “tweet” on behalf of their employers–but despite all the talk among top marketing executives about the importance and potential of Twitter as a marketing and communications tool, few are using it regularly.

Among the CMOs who, like Judge, are embracing it: Jeff Hayzlett of
Eastman Kodak
in Rochester, N.Y., with 13,980 followers (See “Kodak’s Celebrity CMO“); Nigel Dessau of technology company AMD in Sunnyvale, Calif., with 9,583 followers; and Ted Rubin of E.L.F. Cosmetics, headquartered in New York, with 19,238 followers. These CMOs tweet as often 20 times a day. (A typical tweet from @Jeffrey Hayzlett: “One can’t be too choosey when buying a new hat on a cold night in Times Square, like it? Lol http://tweetphoto.com/8612539.”)

Lots of other CMOs–even those who have mandated social media strategies for their companies–have a more lackadaisical approach to the much-hyped outlet. Occasional Twitter users include
Yahoo’s
Elisa Steele,
IBM’s
Jon Iwata and
CDW’s
Mark Gambill. What gives? Steele says she’s turned her focus to Yahoo’s photo sharing site, Flickr, and Instant Messenger. CDW’s Gambill says he’s too busy. “Due to my many year-end work commitments and 2010 planning I have not been as active on Twitter as I would like,” says Gambill. “Hopefully that will change in the days ahead.”

Many top marketing executives think of social media as Pandora’s box, notes Charlene Li, founder of digital consulting company Altimeter in San Mateo, Calif. “They’re afraid to open it, for fear that they won’t be able to handle the in-box,” Li says. Most don’t want to feel obligated to respond to a deluge of messages. Another issue, says she, is that they lack support within the company. “Thus far, transparency hasn’t been encouraged or seen as important.

Often CMOs whose actions are under scrutiny, particularly in tough times, don’t feel comfortable being in the limelight. They prefer to let their CEO take the spotlight, says Liz Miller, vice president of the CMO Council.
Ford Motor Company
has a social media strategy that features designated CEO Twittering hours, when consumers can interact with Alan Mulally on the social networking site. They have even filmed the process and posted it on YouTube, which over 7,000 people have watched to date.

Sure, having a lot of followers on Twitter can help boost a CMO’s public profile, which can be helpful when he or she is looking for a new job. But the bottom line? CMOs should ask themselves if social media fills a business need, says Li: “If there’s nothing the business can gain from Twitter, then why do it?”